Drawing Dogs: Basic Techniques to Improve Your Canine Illustrations | Antonia Dewey | Skillshare
Search

Playback Speed


1.0x


  • 0.5x
  • 0.75x
  • 1x (Normal)
  • 1.25x
  • 1.5x
  • 1.75x
  • 2x

Drawing Dogs: Basic Techniques to Improve Your Canine Illustrations

teacher avatar Antonia Dewey, Artist, Art Instructor

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      1:23

    • 2.

      Observing The Animal | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      1:58

    • 3.

      Making Use Of Simple Shapes | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      9:05

    • 4.

      The Bone Structure | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      8:34

    • 5.

      The Paws | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      16:35

    • 6.

      The Head | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      9:02

    • 7.

      The Different Shapes Of The Dogs | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      17:06

    • 8.

      Final Project | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      8:17

    • 9.

      Conclusion | Drawing Dogs For Beginners

      1:04

  • --
  • Beginner level
  • Intermediate level
  • Advanced level
  • All levels

Community Generated

The level is determined by a majority opinion of students who have reviewed this class. The teacher's recommendation is shown until at least 5 student responses are collected.

229

Students

2

Projects

About This Class

Welcome to Drawing Dogs: Basic Techniques to Improve Your Canine Illustrations! 

My name is Antonia and I've been active in the art field for years.

In this course we'll lay down the foundation for your canine figure studies with some essential lessons to get you started. What you will learn in this course will help you understand some fundamental aspects of drawing dogs. 

Here is what you will learn:

  • How to observe the dog

  • How to draw a dog by using simple shapes

  • How to draw the bone structure of the dog

  • How to draw the canine's paws and head

  • How to identify and draw the different dog breeds

  • and MORE!

If you are looking for a course that will help you better understand and draw the canine figure, this is the course for you! Join me in this easy, step-by-step process for drawing dogs of all kinds!

Meet Your Teacher

Teacher Profile Image

Antonia Dewey

Artist, Art Instructor

Teacher

Hello, I'm Antonia.

I have been active in the art-field for over ten years. What I teach will help you improve your drawing, from line to artwork!

See full profile

Level: All Levels

Class Ratings

Expectations Met?
    Exceeded!
  • 0%
  • Yes
  • 0%
  • Somewhat
  • 0%
  • Not really
  • 0%

Why Join Skillshare?

Take award-winning Skillshare Original Classes

Each class has short lessons, hands-on projects

Your membership supports Skillshare teachers

Learn From Anywhere

Take classes on the go with the Skillshare app. Stream or download to watch on the plane, the subway, or wherever you learn best.

Transcripts

1. Introduction | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hello everyone and welcome to drawing animals for beginners. In this course, we will be addressing the canine figure and old as CMS put it. If you are at the beginning of your journey when it comes to going into dogs, then this might be the course for you joining me and learned a simplest methods to draw your strength. We will start by learning how to observe the dog. And then we will move on to drawing the dogs structure by using simple shapes that will define numerous scan beads. At the end of this course, I am inviting you to join the class, the object and draw your own companion or any number of your choice based on the lessons you've learned in this course. But you will need for this course is a pencil, some paper, and a razor. Maybe you're traveling as a very happy to see how it would turn out. And of course, I will be assisting you further and give you feedback. Of course, if you will require, I look forward to seeing you in our first lesson and in the ones to follow so that Scotland or some good boys and girls. 2. Observing The Animal | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hello and welcome to the first lesson of this course. In order to be able to draw the dog, we have to take a moment to observe that fake. It dulls, just thank humans and any other living beings have a unique way of carrying themselves. So in order to draw an accurate picture of the dog he wanted to study, you have to pay attention to the tiniest of details. Details such as the movement of the dog, that is, the tail position, the muzzle, and so on. Just a simple tail position can tell a story about dog. For example, if the dog keeps its tail between its legs and indicates that the dog is afraid or uncomfortable. I know that is not a very fortunate example, but the tail is a very important communication tool. Another example would be the dog's ears. If the dog keeps its ears pointed upwards, it means that your dog is paying attention to something or is curious. So if you are planning to draw an accurate and expressive figure of the dog, I think these details will help shape its character. In this course, we will focus on constructing the dogs hit, as well as the funny. And of course established the differences between a dog breeds as some of them are skinny, others are shorter or taller, Lafayette, and so on. So observation is skeet no matter the subject. Uh, let's move on to the next lesson. We will learn how to solidify the deluxe figure through simple shapes. 3. Making Use Of Simple Shapes | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hello and welcome to the second lesson of this course. Whenever we observe something would like to draw, we instinctively tend to start by drawing the contour line up the subject. It's the same with dogs, but the punch line do we start with exactly, in order to define adult's body, we proceed to draw this spine, which is a slightly curved line drawn as follows. The upper left part you presents the neck, while the other end represents the curvature of the tail, which as we know as the continuation of the spine. When dogs are usually ignore the details such as for and focus on the main shape of the body, which is also broken down into smaller shapes. Now, no matter the breed, a dog's body could be constructed in the same way. So we've started with the spine. Let's add the dog's head makes. The simplest way to construct the dog's head is by drawing a circle to represent the cranium. So let's draw it. Now that we've drawn the cranium, let's attach a muzzle to it. Let's represent that by drawing a cylinder like so. We have a dog's head going now. Of course, some dog breeds have a longer or shorter muzzle, but we can modify the size and shape by adjusting the cylinder. I will go into more detail about the muzzle And when we will go over the hip construction separately, let's move on to the chest and define that by drawing a circle around this area where the curvature is mostly visible. It doesn't have to be perfect. Don't concentrate on drawing the perfect circle. Fantastic. Once we want to do now is drawing the dog's rear. So I'm going to do so by drawing an oval, almost like an egg shape. Excellent. Now we can connect the two by drawing a curved line on the need for a circle, an oval like this. Dog is coming along. This shot the dog's neck by connecting the line starting from the muzzle to the circle representing the chest. All that is left to do now is drawing the legs, ears entail. I am going to add the prompt links snakes, which I am going to draw by making use of long cylinders like we used for the Muslim. Next we have the poll. So let's give the dog some books, not going into much detail for noun, just suggesting it by using two simple shapes. Notice how the boots are inclined. You might think that dog is not looking quite right at this point as there is more to the front legs than what I've just drawn. First, it's more important to understand the most basic shapes. In the next lesson, we will get into more detail and go over the bone structures where we will find out that dogs have needs too, and we will learn how to position them. This particular dog figure is representing a larger breed. Leg lengths, just like the muscles can also differ. There are dogs out day with short legs, like the baseQ breeding. But at the same time, they keep pretty much of the same mass of a larger dog when it comes to the upper bunny, you can shorten adults links by doing the cylinder short-term goals. So that being said, let's move on to the backlinks. Now this is going to be the tricky part. If we look at the dog's legs, we can see that they seem to be bending outwards and then coming back in words as the touch the ground, I'm going draw the other part of the back leg underneath the rear oval light base. Make sure you don't make the spot too short to remember that the bad links are not bending halfway. So in order to draw the lower part of the back leg, I'm going to draw a little hole wall like I used for the pores to create a connection. Now that I've got that connection, I can draw the cylinder to represent the lower part of the back leg, which bends inwards. So notice how the cylinder is not painting halfway down the lake. The lower part, being longer, is usually commonly found when growing animals like horses. So let's move on to doing the pool. And there we go. It's most important to remember that most dog breeds links bent like that. Some of them have shorter legs or longer links, which you can adjust by reducing or adding to the cylinder is length. In order to draw the lakes accurately, you have to closely observe your subject. Think of all these shapes as if they are 3D. That will come in handy when you will be drawing those from different angles. So let's move on to the ears. I'm not sure what really I want this to be. Maybe, maybe you'll snap riddle. No wonder they are very popular, so their ears are not too long, but not too short either. And seeing from this angle, and they look like they form a triangular shape or something like that. Next we can add the tail. The tail is also not very long, but not too short either. Someone in between meetings. Now we have the basic shape of a dog. It might not exactly look like a Labrador now, but as soon as I went, details such as the highest defining the shapes that for color and lights and shadows, you would be able to see the resemblance. I suggest you don't have to worry about adding those details just yet and just practice drawing the rough shapes in order to better understand it. And of course, finish a drawing with ease. Join me in the next lesson in order to establish the basic bone structure of a generic dog. This way, it will be easier to draw the animal from different angles. 4. The Bone Structure | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hi. In the previous lesson, we have gone over how to draw a dog using simple shapes. Quite easy, right? Well, let's see what actually happens inside those shapes. We started by drawing the spine, the long line that extends from the Nick all the way to the tail. We have also established that the premium is defined by a circle. From here, we have to find out how the rest of the body connects to form the unmistakable shape of a dog. So let's go on and draw what we already know, the spine and the cranium along with the muscle. Alright, let's observe this image. Now. I know this might look a little complicated, but we are going to simplify this. Just like us humans, dogs have shoulders too, but they are found here. If we were to see skeleton from a different angle like this, we can see the connection of the shoulders and the way the bones pinned almost forming a semicircle. So let's draw them. Now. Let's connect the link observed the skeleton and draw it. Notice how the lake is not exactly straight, but depends on little bit afterwards. We're gonna make that a little bit. Here we go. This is the cylinder we went over in the previous lesson. This attachment is one of the points when those leak bins. So I'm going to draw a little circle to mark that point. Now, the next step is drawing the pole. In the first lesson, I've called the pause. Can you see why? This is the second where the dot's leg pins. This is the connection. Alright, moving on to the actual pole. Just like humans don't have five fingers. So I'm going to draw the upper part first, just representing the fingers with the four lines like Mary go looking a little to the left, we notice that TM Also connected to the wrist. And now we've reached the point where the dogs front leak pins. If we refer to the pools as feed, who will understand that the dogs are pretty much working on their tippy toes. So let's draw them too close. Okay, so now that we've established the details regarding the prompt leaves, let's move on to the real. The shape is quite overall is well, that's why in the first lesson we drew a circle which represents the ribcage and chest. We are going to keep that shape in mind as we are not exactly meaning to draw every single grid, we just have to familiarize ourselves with the construction of the door without diving to deepen its anatomy. And there we go, following the spine line all the way to the backlinks, finding the hips of the Docker. We can see that the hips are situated little lower compared to the tail. But we also need to keep in mind the thickness of the tail. When we taught a dog, then that distance will be so visible. So let's represent the hips by throwing a rectangular shape, attaching it to the spine like Sir. Let's take a look at the backlinks. Notice how the upper part of the link connects with the hips. The weight points inwards. Let's draw it. I have drawn a circle in order to know that the bending point, looking at the other end, fish caught another connection, another bending point and the bone that points upwards. Now, just like the from clause, you're facing another pair of boots. But this time we will only have photos instead of five. Represents the ankle. So I'm going to draw another circle to mark my bending point, inconvenient to draw the toes just like before. But notice how the upper bones bit longer compared to the. I'm also going to draw the tail and then make a little bit. And this is pretty much what the dock skeleton looks like. Next, I am going to draw a few shapes to give the dog some of the skeleton. Now it looks more familiar. To the next lesson, we are going to learn about the corpus. 5. The Paws | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hi, the poles are quite intricate and even if withdraw the dog from a distance, they could still be difficult to construct. In order to familiarize ourselves with the subject, we have to observe the post closely and try to break them down into simple shapes to understand them better. Starting with the poll. And let's take a look at this image and establish what the pool is consisting of. Firstly, we have to digital pads and the metacarpal pad. These little fellows have the role to absorb the weight of the box body, keeping stress off their joints and bones. Secondly, we have the new glow or the some thirdly, we have the carpet pad, which is like a heel or the dog. And of course lastly, we have the clause. So a simple way to draw the pole is starting with a pentagonal shape like this. We will include the clothes and the pillows and this shape. In order to separate them, we will draw an X in the middle of the pentagon. Then I will be drawing the line to separate the top digital paths like this. Let's define the shapes a little bit and add the close as well. This front pillows have a little bit of a triangular shape. They look pretty much like the guitar picks. There we go. Quite a simple method, also noticed till the top clause are situated close to each other. For the other part of the pool, I'm going to draw a cylinder. Now all that is left to do is draw the thumb and the heel. First, we will draw the thumb which is situated around this area. See treated with circular shape. Alright? The continuous well, find the shape. And of course we have the firm growing around, director, the pillows. Or sometimes it can be more visible than for others that go all the way like this and around course, and even show up in the front as well. Depending on the dog breed. This is pretty much wrapping up the pool as seen from the backside. So let's move on to the front and profile view as well. For the frontal view, draw a cylinder like sir. Alright, the two ovals represent the wrist and the position of the fingers. Next, for the fingers, I'm going to draw for ovals to help me better constructor pull. Looking more and more like a bone. And inside the sum as well. We finding the pole by adding as little details as I can. Number one, number drawn from a frontal view. It's important to remember about the pillars, even if the dogs fingers are covered in the digital pads should be a little visible. It really depends on the breed. Some dogs have very, very polarized, but generally they are visible in a frontal view. The sum is not as visible as it is seen from a side view. So let us draw it from the side as well. Start with an oval mike. Next, draw a cylinder connecting the two, but make sure it's not too long. It looks familiar. Let's put withdrawn in the first lesson. Next, I am going to draw three ovals for the fingers and one or more of all for the thumb. Only three fingers, because from this angle the fourth one is not going to be visible for the fingers and add the clothes. Keep in mind that the shape of the digital pads. Remember that the weight of the dog is resting on those paths. The most visible pillow in this case is the metacarpal pad. It's also visible from the back on the dock is stepping. That was the frontal pole drawn from a back, front and side view. Moving on to the back pause, bringing my assistance bore into play against, let's see what this one is called. Go. So. Like the font poll, we find the same pillows serving the same purpose, attenuating the pressure on bones and joints by absorbing the weight. This time, we only have four toes instead of five. And instead of the carpet pad, which is the heal, we have the hawk. The hook is a dogs ankle. It's the joint that creates that sharp angle at the back of the dog's rear links. Then, just like humans, dogs have an Achilles tendons as well. So let's start by drawing the ball scene from the back. The construction will be identical to the font post construction, this time, excluding the psalm, but adding the Hulk. The process is very much the same as the front pool. But what those two differences. So I'm going to draw the hind pole as seen from the front and side profile as well. For the front view, I am going to make use of a cylinder and all mall to mark the lake and fingers. The marking the top of the cylinder represents the ankle, the hawk. It won't be visible from this angle, but marks the point where the link bins. Next, I will follow the same process as I did to help me construct a tos. This time. Mm-hm. This was the front view of the hind Paul. Moving onto a side profile view, I will start by drawing the boot, but this time a little more inclined. Lexer. Why so inclined? This end marks the Hulk. This is the point where we seen that dramatic angle and the dogs back late. Next, I want to add the oval for the toast. And then I will be defining their shape. Also. Don't forget about the pillows. We've got the same, sorry going on here as well. And so that concludes this lesson on the puzzle, our fairy friend, to practice drawing them in three-dimensional form of those in mind. It will be of great use to you. In the next lesson, we'll be going over the construction of the head. So see you then. 6. The Head | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hello out there. In the previous lesson, we've gone over how to draw bows. Let's find controlling the hit. For a front view, I'm going to start with a circle to represent the cranium. Just like when we are doing a human's portrait. In order to establish the position of the eyes. I'm going to run a horizontal line through the middle of the circle. Next we have to control the muscle. Of course, there are many types of muscles, but we'll stick with the Labrador Preet. As we know, the Labrador has a medium length muzzle measurement. I'm going to run a vertical line through the middle of the circle all the way to here. Now, if we study this image, we will see how the muscles seems to form a queue shape. So let's draw it. Alright, so in order to make it look more like a muscle, that's apt knows, which has a shape somewhere in between an oval and a triangle like so. And the nostrils, which will seem to curve inwards like this. Underneath the nose, we have the upper lip. So first, we discuss the upper lip from the nose with the help of a line. Something like this, not all the way to the end of the pier shape. And then I will proceed to draw the drooping NAEP and how that connecting the Muslim to the hidden. Next, we've got the chin and is not very visible. But it's always positioned. And they're Neith, lower limb lengths or on the sides of the chin, we can observe the width of the skin hanging. This girl dies. Be sure not to place them too close to the nozzle. This is pretty much based also one I shouldn't be. To the Muslim lambda otherwise, keep the symmetry in mind. Another detail to remember is that the bigger the eyes, the smaller is the dog. Big iss equals smaller hit. The next elements of the hit, either years. Whenever there's ears look quite droopy and have a triangular shape seen from the front view. They should look a little bit like this. Just like that slice of pizza when you draw the last two years. And then Dr. Tupelo, let's draw a fifth of the neck as well to make it look more complete. The neck could be thicker or thinner depending on the breadth and the weight of the daga. I am going to refine the shape a little bit before moving on to the side view. Okay. Now let's see how the hidden looks like from a side view. Whenever I do a Dawkins, wrinkled ducks, they have to surround hand and the squarish peak, which looks a bit like this. We're not. Let's see the picture of this bounce hit Linux quite similar. So this man wanted a details. As you can see, the muscle is not straight. It is inclined inwards, but the troposphere, the lives, the straighter deadline would look as the gravity occurs. All right, so let's define the model. And to make it more realistic, also going to draw the nose, a little triangular shape like so. Underneath the nose, lips. I'm going to draw those. Notice how the lips or curving in words. Like a subtle smile. I seen from a profile, the eye has a triangular shape as well, like this. Maybe you can see a little bit. Tim. Next, we've got the four hit area for the eyebrows. And of course that the Labrador is rupee. Simplify it by drawing a triangle like this. Maybe a little bit smaller than the wars tend to have a fluffier Nick, be sure not to draw and make that is or to get back the same drawing the dog's head and you will get better and better results every time. That being said, this lesson has come to an end. And join me in the next one to see how to draw the shapes of some of the most popular dog breeds. And unfortunately, I can't include all of them in this course. But you still might find your favorite one. So let's see what the differences are. Let's go. 7. The Different Shapes Of The Dogs | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: And it's specified that the shame that I used for the body of the Labrador would be valid for most those adult beads. I'm going to show you some examples of honor dog breeds using the same principles. Since the laboratories a larger dog breed, let's draw a chihuahua and then compare the two. I'm going to start with the spine line just like before, but this time my construction lines will be fainter as I have to erase the wireless, start drawing the details. Then I will draw the circle for the cranium. Since the body is automatically, the head is going to be bigger. So let's draw the rest of the body. I am closely observing the subject, so make sure the proportions are correct. It is best to spend more time observing your subject before you draw it here, every single line costs. Moving on to the rest of the body using the same drawing method that I've used in the first lesson while drawing the laboratory. And so we have the shape of the chew up. Let's see what happens when we add details. Starting with the HD has a shorter muzzle. Therefore, I will draw it closer to the cranium circle likes. I'm adding the muzzle details such as the nose, NMR. The i. Notice how the eye is bigger than big into eyes. I will continue to edit details according to that image for the rest of the body. Identify the differences. Okay? Right. Right. The German shepherd, logistic looking dogs. We can easily recognize it by its flight, Sharp, most large, pointy. Little facts. These dogs are considered to be a medium to large, right? Could be recognized by very slim. And this muscle is long and sharp. Here is I usually bending halfway around the world. Right? Okay. These guys are amazing. The most visible characteristics. Oh, well, let's just say that this dog is melting away. Okay. Also as unmistakable towards the rest of the body this pretty well. Right? Okay. This one is one of my favorites. Medium-sized, mostly recognized for its appearance. It's got the medium length, sharp muzzle, and pointy ears or semi erect. It is a very, very intelligent dog. And these are some of the most popular dog breeds. Notice how most of the Francis R consisting of small details like that is tails and link lengths. Leaving those aside, the construction is using the same principles explained in the first session. In the next video, we will discuss the class project. So I'll see you there. 8. Final Project | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hello everyone. Having reached this far in the course, you now know all the fundamentals of drawing a dog. Your final project is for you to draw a dog. It could be your dog or any other dog of your choice, no matter the breed shape. For us, I chose to draw my dog, the one you're seeing now running the round. Henning is Piper and she's a rescue dog. When me and my husband adopted, have we've been told she could be a cross-breed between a German Shepherd and the colleague. They're little research regarding the conclusion. She might actually be a hub a word. Either way, she's amazing and enough hurt just the same no matter what, took a few pictures of her distinctly, and I chose to draw her from this angle. I'm going to make use of all the methods I've been showing you in the previous lessons when it comes to the construction of the buddy. So here we go. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. See. Okay. And my dad, you will be encountering any difficulties on drawing the dog. Feel free to ask for help for submit your progress in the discussions and I won't be pointing in the right direction. Remember that your dog doesn't have to be a very detailed. This is not about detail, but most about the position of the body and the construction of the body. Once you have finished your drawing, be sure to submit it in the discussions for review. I don't look forward to seeing your work. 9. Conclusion | Drawing Dogs For Beginners: Hi there and congratulations on completing your dog drawing cuz my end of this course, you have learned the fundamentals of how to draw adult and have completed your first dog or drawing with the help of these lessons. Drawing is a wonderful skill and ultimately people decide to try it. But you haven't raised your creative side and have done just that. I do hope you enjoy the course and it hasn't piety to practice drawing the liaison bowl cottons. There are such wonderful creatures. The bring us so much comfort and happiness without ends and without asking for anything in return. If you did enjoy this course, please be sure to follow me for upcoming courses or to check out the previous one. Thank you so much for joining me and I wish you a good day or good night and happy Drawing.